Joan Marie Giampa—im-age ar´chae-ol´o-gist™

Free

2015-07-16T10:41:00.000-04:00

I Am Free

2015-07-15T08:23:00.001-04:00

Journal Cover

Today I am posting a picture of my journal "Thoughts to Think About". I began the journal in the spring of 77. I was sixteen. Obviously I am not Robert Frost, but it is fun to look at these corny old thoughts and use them as inspiration for my next series of work.

Flash forward 38 years. I am so glad I saved this journal of "angst". As I read through the pages I laugh and giggle at my thoughts of youth. I will be sharing some of these thoughts, poems and lines in the coming months as the series "Thoughts to Think About" unfolds.

At the end of this first entry I write, "I am free". What a wonderful insight. To feel free. What a beautiful memory of that time period when the world was ahead of me. It reminds me of the song that came out that following year by STYX--"Come Sail Away with Me". I was almost free and getting ready to launch into adulthood. What a great feeling to be free.

My next painting in this series will be..."I am Free".

#free#freedom##thoughts to think about

Time...is finished

2015-07-09T18:33:00.001-04:00

Time, acrylic, 14 x 30, 2015

This is the first complete painting in my new series, "Thoughts to Think About". When I was a very young teen, I had a journal which I called "thoughts to think about".

250.00 plus shipping, taxes and handling

Time

2015-06-25T17:31:00.000-04:00

Time is evolving...

Pine Cross cont...

2015-06-25T17:28:00.003-04:00

Pine Cross continues to evolve but is still not finished.

Pine Cross in process

2015-06-08T08:28:00.001-04:00

I am continuing my work on Pine Cross this week. I started this painting 18 months ago before my move to Missouri to accept a full time teaching position. I had a long interlude without studio time and posting because of this move and subsequent return to my home area. Without a lot of explanation...it did not work out. What is important is to continue the work. Here we are again. You can see before and after in this post. I will continue to post the progress of this work as this blog has always been about painting and the painting process thus a "painter who blogs". I am moving into a new realm of work. I will continue my image archaeological works and am beginning to work on words that go with the process. I plan to publish the works (words) as cards and prints. More to come on these happenings...for now I hope you "dig" the new work and Namaste.

Before

After

"Thoughts to Think About". A new series. Inspired by a song by Hendrix with the lyric repeated over and over again.

Born in the USA and damn proud of it....eat your heart out Jasper Johns!

2013-10-16T12:28:00.003-04:00

I think this is a timely post considering that we are in the middle of a Govy shutdown and there is a disgruntled attitude at present in general around DC. However, I am one the THE most patriotic people I know and fourth of July is my favorite day. I had intended to finish these for the celebration this year, but my research took a front seat. Thus, USA...enjoy! And I am damn proud to be an American!

USA, Joan Marie Giampa, 12 x 12 inch panels, tryptich, 2013

This work is for sale. Please send me an email at joni33033@gmail.com.

"Returning to Zero"

2013-09-26T12:20:00.001-04:00

Dreams, 1976

I think I am "returning to zero" to quote Robert Redford...
Matthew Rothschild:
"Q: You have this concept that you call "returning to zero." What does that mean?
Redford:
To refresh yourself, you stop and say, "OK, I'm going to take some time off and rethink, and pretend that I'm just starting out again and look at things freshly for the first time." It gives you a kind of energy. It's recharging, and it allows you to keep taking chances rather than getting safe with the ones you've taken."
Source: Matthew Rothschild. "Robert Redford Interview." The Progressive. 6/02/2009. pg. 35.

I remember what it felt like to paint "Dreams". I was 16 and the song "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac had a huge influence on my work. I was trying to paint my "crystal visions". It was magical and I had a passion to "dive" into the canvas--to paint color.

I want to feel all those feelings again and remove the debris in my mind--cluttered mounds of aesthetic criticism from years of exposure and attempt. I paint as I have always painted--for me! That sums it up. I paint for me!

Storms, 2013

This new image is called "Storms". I guess it sums up what I am feeling lately. I am in the process of making some big life changes that will alter my destiny. They say there comes a time when we choose in life as to whether or not we are going to be a "master" or "slave" of our destiny. I am focused on neither at the moment. And for the first time in many years, I am not thinking so much about destiny. I am focusing on the present--"I am returning to zero"!

Add caption

Closing Reception for Anagramation

2013-07-19T15:28:00.001-04:00

Closing reception at Red Caboose Gallery tomorrow--Saturday July 20th from 3-5 pm. Got the summer doldrums...come by and grab some vino or some H20 and enjoy the afternoon with friends, family and art...

Vienna Artist Digs into Canvases to Give Subjects Depth - Sun Gazette Newspapers: News

2013-07-12T19:26:00.004-04:00

Vienna Artist Digs into Canvases to Give Subjects Depth - Sun Gazette Newspapers: News

Caboose Rides Again Tonight

2013-06-21T08:21:00.001-04:00

Tonight the gallery re-opens to the public with new works by Joan Marie Giampa: Anagramation.

The opening is from 6-8 pm. There will be a special sneak preview in the small gallery with works by Jeremy Kunkel. Jeremy is a former student of Dr. Giampa's at Northern Virginia Community College where he studied color. Jeremy will have a solo show at the Caboose in November, 2013.

The Show is Heating Up!

2013-06-17T15:26:00.001-04:00

The Bridge

2013-06-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

The Bridge, 1993, Joan Marie Giampa

I feel as if every painting is a bridge to the next painting. There is no time to reason when working. The term abstract is abstract to me in the sense that everything is abstract beyond the objective. Art is subjective and subject to the analytical. It can be felt and experienced during the creative process as well as during the viewing process. I prefer to feel my way through the process and then analyze afterward--like most. It is difficult to analyze ones work.

Looping Process, 2004, Joan Marie Giampa

My teachers told me to leave that part to the people who do that best--curators and writers. Language and art is a looping process for this artist. One feeds the other. As a trained visual communicator it was important to decipher the process--deconstruct--in order to teach it. In other words which came first--the picture or the word. We know that symbols or pictures came before words and words can look like symbols, but our conscious mind likes to direct traffic and categorize the words into pictures and pictures into words.

Its a looping process kind of like the fibonacci spiral. But the question remains, do we need to create a language to be abstract. I think not. I think that a language evolves as the artist evolves and every stroke, color, and texture extruded speaks a truth that is individual to the artist.

SHE

2013-06-03T09:47:00.003-04:00

she (sh) pron.

1. Used to refer to the woman or girl previously mentioned or implied. Used to refer to a female animal.

2. Used in place of it to refer to certain inanimate things, such as ships and nations, traditionally perceived as female: "The sea is mother-death and she is a mighty female" (Anne Sexton).

What the heck is a TRA?

2013-05-31T12:32:00.002-04:00

Tra (tra) verb

1. Said before departing, a farewell
2. Bye, I'm off to the mall! Tra!

3. Spanish slang meaning "go!"
4. Italian means "between".

On Impulse

2013-05-31T09:07:00.000-04:00

Glass House, 1998, Joan Marie Giampa

The word "language" in art is subjective. We use words in our language as tools to communicate with each other. But I feel that we use art to communicate with each other on a perceptual (sensorial) basis and as such there really are no words to describe this experience. I am always open to others ideas and analysis especially when it comes to my work.

It helps me to grow and connect to others "words" and I enjoy how they connect to my "perceptions" of reality. Again its a looping process and words seem to get in the way at times because they are invented. But sometimes great wordsmiths concoct just the right words to describe just the right feeling. Both are invented during the impulse that propelled them.

An Anagramation of My Name

2013-05-26T13:35:00.002-04:00

What an agagram of my name means to me:
I have a great propensity and innerstate of mind or demeanor for love that is spiritual, not sexual in its nature.

ma·jor (mjr)adj.
1. Of or relating to the field of academic study in which a student specializes.

mien (mn)n.

1. Bearing or manner, especially as it reveals an inner state of mind: "She is an artist with an imaginative mien".

2. An appearance or aspect.

3.How one conducts oneself.

a·ga·pe (ä-gäp, äg-p)n.

1. Christianity Love as revealed in Jesus, seen as spiritual and selfless and a model for humanity.

2. Love that is spiritual, not sexual, in its nature.

3. Christianity In the early Christian Church, the love feast accompanied by Eucharistic celebration.

All About Anagrams

2013-05-26T12:32:00.001-04:00

Did you know that parliament is an anagram of partial men? Or, Clint Eastwood an anagram of Old West Action? Someone once said, "All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie." Here is your chance to discover the wisdom of anagrams.

Cool Anagram Generator Tool

http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html

The word "anagrams" is an anagram of "ars magna", Latin for "great art".
Louis XIII, the King of France during early seventeenth century, appointed a Royal Anagrammatist for a handsome salary.
The word stifle is an anagram of itself.
Japan's former capital city (Kyoto, A.D. 794-1868) and present capital city (Tokyo) names are anagrams of each other.
Kingdom of Java's (Indonesia) former capital city was Kartasura and then moved to Surakarta.
Ever wondered why there isn't another word that can be made by rearranging the letters of the word anagram?
Anagrammist n. : one who composes anagrams and when asked for the four points of the compass is likely to reply thorn, shout, seat, and stew.
An anagram which has reverse spelling of a word and itself spells a proper word is called a semordnilap.
The name of synthetic fiber Spandex is an anagram of expands.
Clabbers is a variant of the Scrabble game. In this game, all the rules are the same as for Scrabble except for one: all words have to be anagrams of real words.
Do Lewis Carroll's poems prove he was Jack the Ripper? See The Straight Dope.
It's said that the right to lampoon royalty and politicians, using anagrams, was enshrined in English law, when King John signed the Magna Carta (Anagram Act) in 1215. (-:
Also Newton supposedly used an anagram in describing calculus in a letter to Leibniz. See this and the book A Passion for Mathematics: Numbers, Puzzles, Madness, Religion, and the Quest for Reality (page 30).

Auto Anagrams

Camry, a car from Toyota is an anagram of my car.
Elantra, a car from Hyundai is an anagram of A rental.
Subaru, a car brand from Fuji is an anagram of U R a bus.

Pangram

A pangram is a sentence that uses all letters of the alphabet. So if you are thinking about finding anagrams of all letters from A to Z, what you are looking for is a pangram that is 26 letter long. Here are a few:

Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz.
Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx.

Anagram in various languages

Spanish:
Anagrama = Amar gana (Love wins)

German:
Anagramm = Am ragman

French:
Anagramme

Italian:
Anagramma

Portuguese:
Anagrama

Anigram

An anigram is anagram which animates to show itself at work. An example of anigram is at the home page of this site which shows how letters of the phrase "Internet Anagram Server" rearrange themselves to make "I, Rearrangement Servant". You can display your own anigrams on your own Web page. See here.

Anugram

An anugram is a true anagram. e.g.

Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one

All anugrams are anagrams but not all anagrams are anugrams.

Anagramation opening June 22 2013 at Red Caboose Gallery and online at Next Picasso

2013-05-13T16:01:00.004-04:00

nagramation
An-a-gra-mat-ion[an-uh-gruh-mey-shuhn], n. 1. An exhibition of paintings depicting roughhewn letters of the Alphabet, in an organic, seemingly naturally occurring font, composed from forest floor detritus. 2. Letters configured from tulip tree twigs, gathered along a hiking trail, and then graphically rendered onto the canvas. 3. Finding hidden and mystical meaning in letters by forming words, syllables, nonsense, fragments, hints of asemic writing, scat syllables, coded acronyms and hipster slang.

Red Caboose Gallery is teaming up with The Next Picasso Gallery for a dual gallery opening on June 21st, from 6-8 pm. featuring new works by Joan Marie Giampa. The new work is based on an alphabet composed of tulip tree twigs. The title, Anagramation, was coined today by David Betz during an intense brainstorming session about the work on a very productive skype session.

Exerpt from Press Release by David Betz

Joan Marie Giampa’s latest series, which is the culmination of her long-term exploration of organic found objects and asemic writing. Anagramation is an exhibition of 13 paintings depicting roughhewn letters of the Alphabet, in an organic, seemingly naturally occurring font, composed from forest floor detritus. The letters were initially configured from tulip tree twigs, gathered along local hiking trails, and then graphically rendered onto the canvas. Successive layers of painterly color were built up and then etched into, with the butt of a paint brush, creating exquisite surfaces, which seem more like the result of natural processes, like wind and water erosion, or soil stratification, than the human hand. Looking at the tulip tree twigs that formed part of her earlier vocabulary, in a fresh light Ms. Giampa realized, “they’re speaking to me and I’m listening. I’ve decided to configure them into letters for this series and… so the new work entails more of the tulip tree twig, but with a language all it's own.”

The paintings themselves can be presented in any number of groupings, with a multiplicity of potential meanings. Hence the exhibition’s title Anagramation. Anagrams can be traced back to the time of Moses, as "Themuru" or changing, which was used to find the hidden and mystical meaning in names. Each time you reconfigure the paintings in new combinations they take on fresh meanings, the sum total having far greater implications than the individual parts. Fully formed words, nonsense syllables, intriguing word fragments, hints of asemic writing, scat syllables, coded acronyms, hipster slang, Dada wordplay, are just some of the many possibilities in hanging these works… The exhibition will be rehung and reconfigured weekly to reflect the potentialities inherent in the letters.

Z

2013-05-10T17:50:00.003-04:00

Y

2013-05-10T17:50:00.001-04:00

X

2013-05-10T17:45:00.002-04:00

W is for words...

2013-05-10T17:44:00.001-04:00

Do we need to create a language to be abstract? I think not. I believe an artists language evolves as the artist evolves and every stroke, color, and texture extruded speaks a truth that is individual to the artist. I feel as if every painting is a bridge to the next painting. There is no time to reason when working. The term abstract is abstract to me in the sense that everything is abstract beyond the objective.

Art is subjective and subject to the analytical. It can be felt and experienced during the creative process as well as during the viewing process. I prefer to feel my way through the process and then analyze afterward--like most. It is difficult to analyze ones work. My teachers told me to leave that part to the people who do that best--curators and writers.

We know that symbols or pictures came before words and words can look like symbols, but our conscious mind likes to direct traffic and categorize the words into pictures and pictures in the words. Its a looping process kind of like Fibonacci's spiral. Language and art is a looping process for this artist. One feeds the other. As a trained visual communicator it was important to decipher the process--deconstruct in order to teach. In other words which came first--the picture or the word.

V

2013-05-10T17:35:00.007-04:00

U

2013-05-10T17:35:00.004-04:00